Editorial Policy

ParentVeda writes for someone who has just been told something they did not expect, at two in the morning, on a phone. That reader deserves accuracy first and warmth immediately after — never warmth instead of accuracy.

• Say what is known, and say plainly where knowledge runs out.
• Never frighten for engagement, and never soothe by omission.
• Send people to their doctor at the point where a doctor is genuinely needed, not as a disclaimer at the bottom.
• Assume the reader is intelligent and frightened, not ignorant.

Our guides are researched against, in rough order of preference:

• Guidance from recognised medical bodies — the WHO, India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, ICMR, FOGSI, ACOG, NICE and the NHS.
• Peer-reviewed research, favouring systematic reviews over single studies.
• Standard clinical reference texts.
• Practising clinicians, for how guidance actually plays out in Indian care.

We do not build health guidance from other people’s blogs, from social media, or from anecdote. Where a claim comes from tradition rather than evidence, we say so in the piece rather than letting the two blur — see the Medical Disclaimer on how we handle Garbh Sanskar and traditional practices.

Health content is reviewed by a qualified medical professional before it is published. A reviewer checks that the piece is factually correct, that nothing important is missing, that the emergency signs are right, and that the tone will not lead someone to delay care.

If a reviewer and a writer disagree, the reviewer decides. If a piece cannot be made accurate, it does not go out.

Guides carry a byline, and the name links to a profile listing that person’s qualifications, registration and areas of practice. That is deliberate: you should be able to check who is telling you something about your pregnancy, and decide for yourself what their word is worth.

Where a piece is written by our editorial team rather than an individual clinician, it says ParentVeda rather than inventing an author.

Every guide shows when it was published and when it was last updated. Medicine changes, and an undated health article is a warning sign on any website.

When we get something wrong, we correct it and we do not pretend otherwise. Small fixes — spelling, clarity — are made silently. Anything that changed the meaning, or that could have affected a decision someone made, is corrected and noted on the page.

Nobody can pay to appear in a ParentVeda guide, to be recommended in one, or to have criticism removed. We do not publish sponsored posts dressed as editorial.

If we ever earn money from a link or a partnership, it will be labelled clearly on the page where it appears, and it will not change what we say. Our reason to exist is that a parent can trust what they read here; there is no revenue worth trading that for.

We write in English and Hinglish, the way Indian families actually talk about these things at home. Familiar words sit alongside clinical ones so the piece is readable without being vague — and where a clinical term matters, we use it and explain it, because that is the word you will hear at the hospital.

We use software for drafting support, structure and editing, the way any modern newsroom does. No health guidance is published on the strength of a machine’s say-so: every piece is written, checked against the sources above, and reviewed by people who are accountable for it by name.

If something in a guide is wrong, out of date, or unclear, tell us at hello@parentveda.in. Clinicians especially — we would rather be corrected than be wrong in front of someone who is frightened.

You can read what we have published so far in the Guides.